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Disney
From its origins in the 1920s as a cartoon network, the Walt Disney Company has become one of the five biggest media groups of the world, with products ranging from movies, television shows, and other media programming to a global network of theme parks and a variety of consumer products. In 2004, the company's revenues were a record $30.752 billion. Disney's activities are concentrated in the fields of family entertainment and sports. The company tries to use every possible distribution channel to reach consumers. A main reason for the company's success is its enormous marketing power; nearly all content can be presented through a wide variety of communication channels. Another important reason is the power of the Disney brand, which is well known to families in America, Europe, and Asia as a sign of family entertainment. As a result of the ongoing process of media concentration, the company has the power to present a nearly complete media menu for families.
The most important stockholders are members of the Disney family (who own less than 5%), Sid Richardson Bass, Lee Marshall Bass, Perry Richardson Bass (together about 4%), Berkshire Hathaway, Capital Group, Inc., and members of the Disney management.
History
The history of this enterprise began in 1923, when 21-year-old Walter (Walt) Disney and his brother Roy founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in a back room in Hollywood. In 1926, the enterprise changed its name to Walt Disney Studios. In 1928, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, Steamboat Willie, came to the cinema. Since then, Mickey Mouse has been inseparable from the Disney name. The company has a plethora of figures in the movies and on TV, but Mickey is Disney's most important character as well as the most important landmark in the development of the media merchandising and licensing business.
In the company's first decades, a number of other characters helped drive its economic development. Many were found in movies based on fairy tales, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and Bambi. When Disneyland, the company's first amusement park, opened in California in 1955, its main attractions were the numerous and by-then-famous film heroes. The combination of an amusement park with characters and shows for children was quite innovative. Since the 1950s, the national television network ABC has brought the show Disneyland to children across the United States. The Mickey Mouse Club portion of the program was Disney's first foray into television programming that utilized the Disney brand. In the show's 4-year run, more than 360 episodes were made. The show then returned twice to the screen, first in 1977 for 2 years as a less-successful syndication show, and then in 1989 as MMC on the Disney Channel. After a 7-year run, the show ended in 1996. Popular former Mouseketeers from this last period are Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. In the following years, the Disney brand was built up to become one of the most popular brands in family entertainment worldwide. It was used for nearly every one of the company's products.
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